Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Power of God - thrust into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Did I remember to put my envelope in the collection?

About Me

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Monday, 22 September 2008

Recollection

One of my salient traits might be described as a kind of temporary enthusiasm... I am guilty of, as they say on your second grade report card, a "failure to complete tasks on time," or really, often, to complete them at all.I read obsessively, and I listen and question, and I wonder, and let my thoughts meander, (much of this out loud, or in print,) and I sleep on it, and I imagine I spy connections, and I think and absorb and even come to conclusions, or adopt principles informed by the reading and listening and questioning and wondering and thinking and sleeping and connecting and absorbing... but never write the term paper or book report.So only the overt activity is temporary, not, in reality, the enthusiasm, which become part of who I am.One of my salient traits might be described as a kind of temporary enthusiasm... I am guilty of, as they say on your second grade report card, a "failure to complete tasks on time," or really, often, to complete them at all.I read obsessively, and I listen and question, and I wonder, and let my thoughts meander, (much of this out loud, or in print,) and I sleep on it, and I imagine I spy connections, and I think and absorb and even come to conclusions, or adopt principles informed by the reading and listening and questioning and wondering and thinking and sleeping and connecting and absorbing... but never write the term paper or book report.So only the overt activity is temporary, not, in reality, the enthusiasm, which become part of who I am.Anyway, I am fixated on "recollection" just now, spurred by a post of Fr Ray Blake's about steps a teacher is taking to "re-enchant" the liturgy in order to form his pupils in a more progressive, I might say, radical manner. Thank you, Kevin Knight, for the Catholic Encyclopedia online! (Why? because it would be such a labor to haul a volume off the shelf where it sits, two feet from you head, you lazy thing?) (YES!)Recollection, as understood in respect to the spiritual life, means attention to the presence of God in the soul. It includes the withdrawal of the mind from external and earthly affairs in order to attend to God and Divine things. It is the same as interior solitude in which the soul is alone with God.

This recollection is twofold:

Active recollection may be acquired by our own efforts aided by the ordinary grace of God. Thus any devout soul can acquire the habit of thinking of God's presence and of fixing attention upon Him and his Divine perfections.

Passive recollection does not depend upon our own efforts, but is an extraordinary grace infused by God, by which He summons together the faculties of the soul and manifests His presence and His perfections; this kind of recollection is classed by mystical writiers as the first degree of infused contemplation.

The first kind of recollection belongs to ascetical devotion and practice. It is necessary for all who wish to attain Christian perfection. Without it, it is most difficult to make progress in virtue. Therefore, it is necessary to observe the means by which it may be acquired. These are:

silence and solitude, according to our state of life, keeping in mind, at the same time, that one may be recollected amidst the duties of an active life;

the avoidance of distracting and dissipating occupations not dictated by reason or required by necessity. Multiplicity of occupations is an obstacle to recollection. Father Faber says that the man who undertakes too much is a foolish man, if not a guilty one.

The frequent exercise of the presence of God. As recollection is itself an application of the mind to the Divine presence within us, it is evident that the shortest way to its acquisition is frequently to call to mind that our souls are the temples of God.

Another cause of my current interest it that this activity, Recollection, (this most "passive" seeming of states possible, it would get the Effcap Police* in such a tzimmis!) and its importance in the authentic spiritual life seem closely related to Himself's habit of "letting all that Sacramenty Goodness just wash over me" when confronted with certain types of Liturgy, (for which he is constantly apologizing.)I didn't have a very traditional Catholic formation, I don't know that I encountered the word, recollection, in the sense that Catholic mean it until I was an adult.My formal, one class a week Religious Ed. was of the paint pictures on stones and learn that "God is Orange" variety except for one (God bless her!)As a family, we decamped from our home parish from time to time, but that was usually for aesthetic reasons I now see, (and in fact, that may have had the side benefit of landing us in more orthodox communities. And in reality, even between those times, most of our liturgical activity was at a monastery.In my one year of Catholic college before conservatory, I took a beginning course in philosophy, with a quite marvelous teacher, every inspiring; but in retrospect, i realize that in at least one of my papers I expressed heresy, which the teacher, a habited sister, did not note, or correct, or even challenge me on, but rather said I was a very original thinker and might want to consider a philosophy or theology major.But after that, from the age of 18 or so onward, the need for Recollection, and the need to work at it has risen steadily in my priorities, without my even being aware of it.(Maybe because I was going to school in an enormous city where there was an interesting and quiet Catholic church on practically every block, and where else is an impecunious commuting student with odd socialization skills and a reluctance to practice going to hang, other than on Tuesdays when the museums are free?)In addition to Himself's self-perceived failings as a liturgical being, I think this ties into a better understanding of ones genuine obligations at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, (as opposed to the reminiscent-of-the-Host-of-the-Hippo-Ride-at-DisneyWorld exhortations of song leaders and animateurs,); the goals of those with charge of children's and school liturgies; and the much denigrated little old ladies who told their beads during Mass; and the texts that are barely a step above the Feedbox Lectionary; and the condescension of proponents of the faux primitif, (wheterh for thier social or chronilogical inferiors ); and... oh, numerous authoritative pronouncements of the Church and Her leaders.It's all related.

I'll get back to this.Unless, of course, my enthusiasm passes over the get-it-down-on-paper-phase and jumps to the part-of-me stage.Meanwhile, I'll bore Himself with it on long car rides.

*Where did I pick this expression up online? I read it somewhere and now can't remember or find the source, to give credit where due.